FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>  
ons must be forthcoming whatever be the consequence; our business cannot be carried on without them. That the natives wantonly destroy the game in years of deep snow is true enough; but the snow fell to as great a depth before the advent of the whites as after, and the Indians were as prone to slaughter the animals then as now; yet game of every description abounded and want was unknown. To what cause then are we to ascribe the present scarcity? There can be but one answer--to the destruction of the animals which the prosecution of the fur-trade involves. As the country becomes impoverished, the Company reduce their outfits so as to ensure the same amount of profit,--an object utterly beyond their reach, although economy is pushed to the extreme of parsimony; and thus, while the game becomes scarcer, and the poor natives require more ammunition to procure their living, their means of obtaining it, instead of being increased, are lessened. As an instance of the effects of this policy, I shall mention what recently occurred in the Athabasca district. Up to 1842 the transport of the outfit required four boats, when it was reduced to three. The reduction in the article of ammunition was felt so severely by the Chippewayans, that the poor creatures, in absolute despair, planned a conspiracy to carry off the gentleman at the head of affairs, and retain him until the Company should restore the usual outfit. Despair alone could have suggested such an idea to the Chippewayans, for they have ever been the friends of the white man. Mr. Campbell, however, who had passed his life among them, conducted himself with so much firmness and judgment, that, although the natives had assembled in his hall with the intention of carrying their design into execution, the affair passed over without any violence being attempted. The general outfit for the whole northern department amounted in 1835, to 31,000l.; now (1845) it is reduced to 15,000l., of which one-third at least is absorbed by the stores at Red River settlement, and a considerable portion of the remainder by the officers and servants of the Company throughout the country. I do not believe that more than one half of the outfit goes to the Indians. While the resources of the country are thus becoming yearly more and more exhausted, the question naturally suggests itself, What is to become of the natives when their lands can no longer furnish the means of subsistence? Thi
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   >>  



Top keywords:
outfit
 

natives

 

country

 
Company
 

ammunition

 

reduced

 

Chippewayans

 

passed

 

animals

 

Indians


settlement

 
friends
 

suggests

 
Campbell
 
yearly
 

exhausted

 

question

 

naturally

 

suggested

 

subsistence


furnish

 

longer

 

retain

 

gentleman

 

affairs

 
restore
 

Despair

 

resources

 

general

 

northern


department

 

portion

 
violence
 

attempted

 

servants

 

amounted

 

absorbed

 

stores

 

officers

 

remainder


firmness
 
judgment
 

assembled

 

considerable

 

conducted

 
execution
 

affair

 
intention
 
carrying
 

design